summer on my andirons: quest for an apartment

I have been in Spain for just over a week, and so far I love being here!

I work in two towns, Santanyí and S’Alqueria Blanca (shortened by everyone to Alqueria), and I live in Santanyí. Finding an apartment was sure an adventure!

On Monday, Oct. 4th, I went to the school in Santanyí where I’ll be working and met all the members of the foreign languages department (5 English teachers and 1 German teacher). I told them I was looking for an apartment, and the search was on! Somebody else popped their head into the department, and they all immediately asked her if she was looking for somebody to share her apartment with. She looked rather shocked, and I laughed a little at her expression. The professors all assured her that if she didn’t want anyone, then they weren’t obligating her, but this young lady is looking for a place to live… and this other woman said something like, “Well, I hadn’t really thought about it… I suppose so…” and we arranged for me to walk home with her after school so I could see her apartment.

Apartment #1: shared with Blanca, €250 per month. Blanca and I walked to her apartment, which is in the very center of Santanyí. Blanca is from Castilla, where castellano was born—and not just any part of Castilla—the exact part between Burgos and I don’t know where else that the first words of castellano were spoken. Since I believe I’ll be seeing a lot of Blanca at the school, I decided it would be nice to live somewhere else and get to know another part of Santanyí outside of life at the school.

In the high school, there was a notice up for an apartment for rent with a phone number to call, so I called that number and arranged to see another apartment.

Apartment #2: owned by Miguel who also owns the butcher shop, normally €530 but he would reduce it to €490 just for me, or €400 for the first month while he looks for a roommate for me, and once he found a roommate he would up it back up to €530, but divided in half, so I’d only be paying €265, plus electricity and water, of course. The apartment is new, in an old building near the center with a tiny little balcony with a great view. Miguel absolutely insisted that I come back to his butcher shop so he could give me a sandwich, and then we talked for another hour or so (or rather, he talked, and I tried to pretend I could understand him when his back was turned, customers were coming in and out, and he was shouting over me, them, the radio, and talking about I don’t know what.) I’m definitely going to have to go back and buy some of the delicious Mallorcan sausage!

Then I wandered around the town for a while, and saw various “For Rent” signs, so I called up the people and talked to them, but the apartments were all bigger and pricier than what I was looking for. I also talked to other people, who said to look for “Roommate Wanted” signs outside supermarkets, so I set off looking for those, and found one.

Apartment #3: shared with Sofia, €280 per month. The apartment is new, in a new building, with three bedrooms. Sofia is from Bulgaria and her Spanish is excellent, and she wants an English tutor. The apartment is very large, and Sofia already has everything—bed linens, furniture, cooking utensils—absolutely everything, including a cat named Buba! She seems very open and relaxed. It is almost exactly what I was looking for!!

I was walking back toward the bus stop, and ran into Blanca again. We sat and drank Fanta and Sprite for half an hour or so and talked about American movies, until we saw Bernardo, who apparently owns half of Santanyí and has various apartments to rent out. We gulped the rest of our drinks and she hurried me over to meet Bernardo (in whose café we had been having colas).

Apartment #4: owned by Bernardo, €400 per month. An attic apartment, one very large room with a small kitchen in the corner, two beds, a wood-beam ceiling, two windows on the NW side looking out over the city center of Santanyí, and then a wall of windows on the SE looking out at a terrace as big as the inside room. With the terrace, the apartment has 360 degree views—you can see all the way to the ocean, out to the Islas de Cabrera, and up to the mountains behind Santanyí. It’s breezy, cool, and sunny, is only two blocks away from the town center, and is exactly what I was looking for!

***

Unfortunately, €400 was a bit too steep for me, and on Tuesday morning there was a cucaracha, a cockroach, scuttling around my hotel room in Cala d’Or. What if the attic apartment had cockroaches and I didn’t have a roommate to help me squash them or shoo them out? The attic does already have dishes and pots and pans, but the kitchen’s refrigerator is tiny and moldy, and there’s no oven, only two tiny burners. It is in a beautiful location, though, and has such amazing views! If I ever got lonely, I’m sure I could go find Blanca and we could talk for a long time.

I dithered for quite a long time: fairy-land attic, or more reasonable shared flat? I decided to choose Apartment #3 and live with Sofia, and I’m very happy I did so! Sofia had everything arranged for me to move in. When I appeared panting and sweating, she even helped me drag my big suitcase up the three flights of stairs. Sofia then left for Barcelona, but from the quick conversations we had, she seems AWESOME! The apartment is large and comfortable, and it has a full-sized kitchen. The only downside to moving into someone’s apartment in their absence is that there are a few things I can’t figure out: for example, how do I turn on the gas oven? The rest, though, has been a breeze! She even has an old computer that I can use to get on the internet.

***

On Saturday, I went to the large market in the center of town and bought bags and bags of vegetables, and I came home and cooked pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, ENORMOUS bell peppers, mushrooms, fresh garlic, a huge handful of basil, and a hunk of incredibly strong cheese.

I cooked while listening to Handel’s violin concertos and then finished reading E. E. Cummings’ The Enormous Room. If there are any E. E. (or, excuse me, e.e.) Cummings fans out there, make sure to track down that book. It is a (prose) account of his imprisonment in France, and it is a wonderful read.

***

There is so much more to say, but I think I’ll let pictures of Santanyí and the apartment tell the rest of the story…

Stepping out of Blanca’s door into the main square

Apartment #2’s location

The view from apartment #4. Heavenly!

The view from my bedroom in Sofia’s apartment. Not quite as spectacular as the attic, but less pricey.

Sunset over Mallorca

Our next-door neighbors. It's actually really handy living by the gas station; none of the streets go in any particular direction in Santanyí (everything was built rather higgedly-piggedly in the 1300s) and I get lost quite easily. There is only one gas station, though, so whenever I want to go home, I just ask for directions to the gas station!

Our living room

My bedroom

I brought my maps along to decorate my room! It's a little piece of home.

Buba. She’s shy and spends most of the day hiding under Sofia’s bed. I keep tempting her with kitty treats, though, and once she let me pet her, but she didn’t stick around long enough for me to take a picture.